


Agony, Misery, And Woe

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Zine Promos [4]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Into The Woods Fusion, Alternate Universe - Rapunzel Fusion, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, BAMF Katsuki Yuuri, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Character's Name Spelled as Yuri, Cinderella Elements, Devotion, Established Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy Tale Style, Inspired by Into the Woods, Katsuki Yuuri Needs a Hug, Katsuki Yuuri in High Heels, Long-Haired Victor Nikiforov, Long-Haired Yuri Plisetsky, M/M, Male Cinderella, Minor Violence, Pining Victor Nikiforov, Prince Otabek Altin, Prince Victor Nikiforov, Princes & Princesses, Protective Otabek Altin, Rapunzel Elements, Rescue Missions, Romance, Singing, Supportive Victor Nikiforov, Victor Nikiforov Being Victor Nikiforov, Victor Nikiforov Has No Chill, Victor Nikiforov Is In Love, Victor Nikiforov is Extra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:00:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22518901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Prince Viktor and Prince Otabek are both in a very similar yet totally different situationPrince Viktor has fallen in love with a fair gentleman.... who runs away at the sight of him and has left nothing but a shoe in his wakePrince Otabek has fallen in love with a fair gentleman.... who is held captive in a supposedly inescapable tower with nothing to do but braid his long blonde hairThey're both in agony over the complications, but intend to make them right, Viktor will hunt down his lost love and Otabek will climb up the tower to rescue his!Also, they're quite fond of singing about it
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Series: Zine Promos [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551694
Comments: 2
Kudos: 50





	Agony, Misery, And Woe

**Author's Note:**

> Written as a promo for Once Upon A Time, the YOI fairytale zine https://onceuponayoi.tumblr.com/
> 
> Lyrics and dialogue prompts from- "Agony", "On The Steps Of The Palace", and "He's A Very Nice Prince" from Into The Woods

"You claim that _both_ our fair gentlemen are out of our reach?"

"Yes, don't you see!? It must be fate!"

"I'm not sure if 'fate' is the word I would use Viktor," Otabek noted slowly as he dismounted his horse

"It's fate~" Viktor sighed dreamily, clutching his hands to his chest as walked towards the river ahead of him, his long silver hair gleaming in the sunlight as it draped over his shoulder

But Otabek knew of hair even more fair than the prince's

The hair as yellow as corn, the hair of his beloved...

"And yet your beloved ran from you," Otabek noted, following the other prince towards the river

"I know, I don't know why!" Viktor shreiked, putting the back of his hand to his head dramatically

" _Did I abuse him or show him disdain? Why does he run from me?_ "

"Are you singing...?"

" _If I should lose him how shall I regain, the heart he has won from me?_ "

"You're singing..."

" _Agony!!_ " Viktor practically screamed, perching himself on a rock

" _Beyond power of speech, when the one thing you want, is the only thing out of your reach,_ "

Otabek shook his head, he refused to take part in this nonsense, and yet.... and _yet_...

" _High in his tower he sits by the hour maintaining his hair, lithe and becoming and frequently humming a light-hearted air,_ "

Otabek sang forth the same tune he had so frequently heard from Yuri, sighing softly as he remembered those peircing green eyes....

" _Agony, far more painfull than your's!_ "

Viktor looked completely offended by that; Otabek didn't care

"When you know he would go with you, if there only were doors!"

Seemingly in unison, the two princes sang out again, ripping their shirts open as they sang of the torture and misery that they experienced chasing after their intendeds

Viktor had his eyes set on a prince dressed in gold, having not so much as a shoe to remember him by

Otabek's heart was captured by one stuck in a tower with hair of gold long enough to climb

Equal pain and yet so totally opposite, wile Viktor had to chase after the boy who ran from him, Otabek had to climb up the tower in hopes of reaching the boy who was kept out of his reach

_"Agony! Misery! Woe, though it's different for each!"_ they shouted out

_"Always ten steps behind-"_

_"Always ten feet below-"_

_"And he's just out of reach... agony, that can cut like a nife!"_

They paused, both sighing wistfully as they leaned back on the river-soaked rocks beneath them

_"I must have him... to wiiiiife..."_

~+~

"What.... what is this...?!"

Yuri's heart was racing, his eyes wide as he tugged on his foot, but it wouldn't budge

_"He's a very smart prince,"_ he reasoned slowly, his shoulders sinking

_"He's a prince who prepares, knowing this time I'd run from him, he spread pitch on the stairs, well it means that... he cares,"_

Glancing up to the steps where the prince was running around, from the back of the palace towards the steps, Yuri knew that he would have to make a decision quickly or risk getting caught and his decision pulled away all together

But what to do?

The prince wanted him, yes, like _this_ , dressed in gold and with painted lips and diamonds draped down his ball gown

But what if he knew who Yuri really was?

A servant at the onsen run by a wicked step father who had married his now deceased mother so little after she had lost his father...

An orphan without a penny to his name, much less any gold, only beautified and enriched by the gifts of his mother's spirit

That couldn't be what any prince would truly want... could it?

But... what if it was?

What if he _was_ what Prince Viktor wanted?

But what if it wasn't even about what Viktor wanted? What if it was about what _Yuri_ wanted?

What if Yuri didn't know what he wanted?

_"It's my first big decision, the choice isn't easy to make,"_ he sang to himself, biting his nail

What should he do?

Where should he go?

Home, where everything was wrong but everything was safe and there were no decisions to make?

Home, where they didn't care and there was no one there who ever bothered to want him anywhere?

Or here, where everything was right but where he would never belong, where he'd try all his might but may never have a life that was truly his own?

Or here, where there was someone to care- for today, for the hour, but who may not want him when he learned that Yuri had no choices, no say, or no power?

Or maybe that was what the prince wanted anyway?

What if Viktor wanted a pretty thing to hang on his arm, who could do him no harm, and raise no alarm?

Someone to stand by his side no matter what he'd decide about any royal affairs that were up in the air? Someone who didn't care?

So what to decide?

Stay and get caught like a toy to be bought?

Or go back where no one would care what he had or what he lacked?

Or about anything about him truly...

_"I know what my decision is... wich is not to decide! I'll just leave him a clue, for example.... a shoe, and then see what he'll do,"_

Quickly, Yuri stepped out of his shoes, pried one out of the tack on the ground and left the other where it was, before sprinting down the stairs

_"Now it's he and not you who is stuck with a shoe, in a stew, in the goo, and I've learned something too, something I never knew, on the steps of the palace!"_

He could hear Viktor shouting commands from the top of the steps, but it was too late for the silver-haired Prince Charming to catch him now, he had already ducked into the woods

Into the woods that Yuri knew far better than any prince possibly could

~+~

Sighing quietly as he watched the owl resting in the tree across from him, Yura sang out a few more stray notes from his song, bored out of his mind, wishing that something- _anything_ , at this point- would happen

And just as he was about to turn away from the window, deciding to sleep for the night, as nothing would happen- nothing ever did- he heard the sound of a vine snapping

Blinking, he glanced down, noticing motion from below and feeling a grin lift against his features

"...Otabek?" he called out slowly

There was another cracking vine, and he lit up, the hopes- desperate and perhaps foolish- flooded through him as he hurriedly threaded his long blonde braid through the hook on the edge of his window, watching the end of his hair go further and further down

_Please..._ he thought desperately to himself

_Please let it be him... please let it be-_

He gasped at the tug on his hair, gritting his teeth at the initial sharp pain, and watched with held breath and a pounding heart as a set of hands- male, clearly- gripped onto the long strands of gold, followed by a head of dark hair...

"Beka!!"

Lifting his head, Otabek smiled sweetly at the other, climbing further and further... up and up his hair... finally grasping onto the window ledge and swinging his legs over the edge, immediately pulling Yura in closer, into a kiss

"I came for you," he promised quietly

"I came to take you home with me,"

~+~

"I assure you, good sir, this is _not_ the fine gentleman I danced with at the ball, and I do believe the _blood_ in the slipper is proof of that?"

Ah, alas, his fair gentleman's shoe was all coated in blood now, what a pity....

"Your Majesty," Chris's voice rang quietly in his ear

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but we've reached the last house in the kingdom, your mystery man is still nowhere to be found and your father-"

" _My father_ -," Viktor interrupted cleanly, voice low and quiet

"-promised me the hand of whoever I wished so long as it was done soon, I've found who I wish for, and now that I know he's out there, I'm not going to settle for less,"

"A romantic as always," Chris chuckled

"Still, how do you intend to find him? We can't waste the resources of going back through every house in the kingdom,"

"No, you're right," Viktor agreed, eyes flicking up towards the house they were currently standing in front of... and noticing a figure in the window of the very top floor... the _attic_...

"But perhaps we don't need to..."

Clearing his throat, he plastered on his most charming smile and approached the man in front of him who had just tried to pawn off two of his useless sons on Viktor

"Good Sir, you wouldn't happen to have a _third_ son, now would you? Perhaps.... hidden away in the attict?"

"Ofcourse not," the man huffed with diligence

"I see, and... no maid either? For a house this lovely I'm surprised,"

"...We do have a maid, but she's a woman," he settled

Well, if he thought that would detour the prince, he was mistaken

"Ah... then perhaps you have an intruder in your home and I should investigate, keeping my people safe you know?"

The paleness of the other's face told Viktor everything he needed to know

"Wait-"

"I'll have a look for myself, and as the prince, I order you to leave me to it, you would never defy royal orders now would you?"

"...No.... Your Highness..." the man croaked out as Viktor headed into the house

_Sure you would, trying to pass off your lousy sons as my true love wile hiding my beloved gentleman from me is already breaking all sorts of orders and yet..._

The prince kept those thoughts to himself though, making his way up the stairs, then noticing with a pleased smirk that the ladder to the attict was down and climbing it with ease

Surely enough, when he got to the top of the floor, his eyes locked with the same pair of cinnamon brown they'd stared into all night for the past three nights at the ball

He knew those eyes

He loved those eyes

And he wouldn't be fooled by those eyes being disguised behind a pair of glasses

"Are you....?"

He paused in his question, his smitten smile faltering when he took in the rest of the boy's state of being

He was just dressed in rags, with nothing but ratty cloth slippers on his feet- nothing like the golden heels he had danced in for the past three nights- with a pair of mice in his hands and... a chain around his ankle....

"What are they doing to you!?" Viktor shouted, heaving himself into the attic quickly and rushing towards the beautifull boy he had fallen for in only three nights

"They.... found out I went to the ball.... and didn't want me to make a fool of myself," the brunette explained quietly, looking down at the mice in his hands, as if they somehow held all the answers

Viktor shuddered to think

"Are you kept prisoner here?" he frowned, giving a harsh yank to the chain on the floor- it didn't budge

"No? This is my step-family, I live-"

"Your _family_ treats you like this!?"

_And I thought Father with all his rules and prehistoric ideals was bad..._

"I... shouldn't have gone to the ball... I wasn't allowed to,"

"What you shouldn't have done is run away from me in the first place," Viktor huffed, his anger at the situation- at seeing his beloved chained up like a captive animal- boiling over, before he caught himself and exhaled, shoulders sagging

"I'm sorry, that came out all wrong, I just meant- ....... why _did_ you run away?"

"Because I-..... didn't know what else to do," he confessed quietly, pulling his nees up closer to his chest, the chain rattling along with the motion

"You saw someone beautifull at the ball, someone alluring and confident draped in gold, that's not who I am, and I worried that if you knew the real me, you wouldn't want me, I was afraid of that feeling of being unwanted, of disappointing you, I thought that atleast if I never knew how you felt I could pretend, fantasize and get through the days... and admittedly I was.... I was afraid of myself too.... I didn't know what I wanted, being a prince is not who I am, I'm not... meant for making big decisions and having a country at my feet, I'm not meant to be what you need, and I'm afraid of failing at it, atleast here there are no expectations, there are no choices, there are no opportunities for me to fail.... so I thought I'd return but.... leave you the shoe and see what you'd do, I thought maybe then.... it might give me a clue?"

Viktor couldn't help himself- his smile was wide, his eyes warm and his expression sincere as he leaned in closer, pressing their foreheads together

"So.... it isn't because you don't like me?"

"What!? No ofcourse not! Viktor I-.... I _adore you_ ," he confessed shyly, suddenly turning pink

"I-I mean Your Maj-"

"Viktor, please," the prince corrected, cupping the stranger's face

"I still don't have a name for you though, my beautifull stranger,"

"Yuri," he finally answered, the name sending a thrill down Viktor's spine

"Yuri...." the prince breathed quietly in return

"Well then Yuri, shall I get you out of these chains and back to the palace where you belong?"

"Where I... belong?" Yuri questioned slowly

"Well ofcourse, it won't do to have my husband living in chains and rags, now will it? That is... if.... you want to be my husband,"

"I do," Yuri breathed, pulling Viktor in closer for another kiss

"I do, Viktor, I do,"

"Remember those words in a few weeks then hm?" Viktor chuckled, reluctantly drawing back after only indulging in Yuri's sweet kisses for a moment

"Now, allow me to go get my soldiers and get you out of those shackles once and for all hm?"

"Yes but- .. Viktor? One... may I ask... one favor?"

"Anything my beloved,"

When Viktor said "anything", he really hadn't expected the mice to be shoved at his face

"Can my freinds come with me? To the palace?"

Ahhh... what an unusual request for an unusual husband-to-be

Most would have begged for gold or gems, Yuri only wanted a couple of feild mice...

"Ofcourse my love," Viktor promised, kissing Yuri's cheek

"You may bring all of the freinds you wish,"

~+~

"Don't worry, this rope is far stronger than the vines,"

Nodding slowly, Yura started to climb down the rope that Otabek had provided, his hands shaking with anticipation as he descended

For the first time in his life, he was leaving this tower

For the first time in his life, he was going to be free

No more waiting on the ledge, counting down the hour

No more waiting, what a dream this had to be....

And yet alas, he knew that it could never last, because just as his foot touched the ground outside for the very first time-

"I warned you! I told you what would happen if you tried to get away from me!!"

Yura looked up, a horrified scream tore out of his throat as he watched the witch- his wicked father, if he had to call him by _something_ \- grip a hand around Otabek's throat, squeezing as he then slashed his long claw-like nails across the prince's eyes

"BEKA!!!"

"You did this," the witch condemned, Otabek's screams of agony echoing through the woods the entire time

"Children must listen! And if you had listened then he never would have suffered for your insolence! Now you have the choice before you, my dear child, either to have that freedom you desire so badly... or the boy you desire just as much, you cannot have both, and know that whatever choice you make, there will be consequences,"

The witch tossed Otabek to the ground, his hands bloody as he pulled a pair of gardening shears from behind his back, setting them against the rope connecting the tower to the ground

"You can save him you know, and yet you must return to me to do it, and if you run off, thinking you're smart, looking for help, then you'll have no way to return to him when you get back, so... what will it be, child? Your freedom for his life... or his life for your freedom?"

For Yura, there was no debate or consideration- the answer was an obvious one

So he took one last look at the world around him, and with tears in his eyes, he took a breath, and slowly began climbing back up the rope once more

~+~

"I know this is a frightening prospect, but I promise Yuri, you'll never have to do anything you don't want to do, the royal life is not a free life, I admit, but never again will you be in service to another, I will protect you from ever having to make choices you don't wish to make, or obey orders you don't wish to obey, allow me to protect you Yuri, and I will make sure you never regret your decision to come with me,"

Despite Viktor's declarations- or, more to the point, because of- Yuri still looked hesitant, chewing on his lip before deciding to just be honest and taking Viktor's hand

"You're a very nice prince," he prefaced

"And?" Viktor asked excitedly

"And... it's clear that you care,"

"And?"

"And... I'm happy to go with you, no matter the where, but I'm no burden to bear, and- ... that's... quite the long hair...."

At some point, Yuri had glanced out the carriage window and caught sight of a beautifull boy with hair so long that it dragged the ground behind him, climbing up the rope to a tower...

"Hair as yellow as corn?" Viktor asked, poking his head out the window as well

"Yes you could describe it like tha-"

"We need to stop the carriage!"

Before Yuri knew what was happening, Viktor had forced the carriage to a dead stop and was calling upon his men to rush to the tower

Yuri, in the mean time, glanced down at the mice in his hands, unsure at first of what to do

"Well? What should I do?"

The mice squeaked, cleaning their little faces

"You're absolutely right... I can't keep hesitating to act.... I have to be brave,"

Without another word or thought, Yuri sprinted out of the carriage as well and set the mice down on the ground

"Show me the way,"

~+~

"Beka.... Beka I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...." Yura breathed, hiccuping quietly as his tears flowed down his cheeks, splashing one by one against Otabek's bloodied eyes

Yura watched, breath nearly held, as the wounds slowly started to disappear, before Otabek's beautifull brown eyes opened for him once more, a breath of releif being practically nocked out of him as he hurried to hug his lover

"I hope you appreciate the gift you've been given," the witch said, earning a glare from Yura as he craddled Otabek close to his chest, sneering at the man he had once called a father

"I hope you understand how valuable life is, and what a shame it is to waste it, children must listen, because if they don't, it's others who will pay the price on their behalf,"

With that, the witch picked up Otabek by the back of his jacket, dragging him towards the window

"W-Wait... wait!! What are you doing!? You said-!!"

"I said you could heal him, not that you could keep him,"

"Otabek!!!" Yura shouted, scrambling to his feet, rushing to chase after them, only to be tossed aside by the witch, slammed into the wall

Yura wanted to fight, but before he could make it back to his feet--

"Hey!!"

Turning his head, the witch stared in shock at the intruder in the tower, someone he had never seen before- who Yura had never seen before either, actually...

But neither had time to marvel over this fact, as not a second after calling out, the stranger slammed the heel of his shoe through the witch's eye, nocking him backwards and into a screaming rampage

"Out the window!! Go out the window!" the stranger shouted

Yura didn't waste time, he hurried to get Otabek going down the rope, then followed right after him

The witch was on his feet again coming towards the stranger, but luckily for him.... he had _two_ shoes

He'd had the forethought to grab the other golden slipper from his hiding spot beneath the floor before he left home, wanting to wear his golden shoes to his new life with Viktor, but they served their purpose well here too

With the other heel slammed into the witch's other eye, he hurried out the window himself, climbing down the rope as quickly as possible.. and right into Viktor's arms

"Yuri!! What were you doing!? Are you crazy!? You could have gotten hurt!"

"I know," Yuri breathed, cupping Viktor's face

"You're a very nice prince,"

"...And?"

"And I know that you care, and that's really quite rare, but I won't be a burden, won't get stuck unaware, no that wouldn't be fair... so I've made a decision,"

"...And?"

"And it's one that I'm proud of, it's no easy one now love, but it's mine and it's right and for the first time in my life I feel strong, and it's my first big decision but I know enough now to know I'm not wrong, and I think if I'm honest that I might've found where I belong,"

"...And?"

"And..."

And Yuri wasn't sure what else to say now

He had acted on impulse and it worked out for the better but what if-?

"And," Viktor said for him, smiling warmly, beaming like the sun

"Yuri I'm with you, whatever you do, I'll support any decision you make and any choices you break to be who you are in your heart, just promise me Yuri wherever we go you'll never allow us to part, we can have a new start, just as long as you promise, if you're being honest... stay close to me, and I'll go anywhere you want to be, just.... stay close to me,"

"Viktor," Yuri promised with a gentle smile, leaning up and giving him a deep, affectionate kiss

"I'm not going anywhere, forever, you and I, ok?"

Viktor's expression eased, smiling warmly as he returned Yuri's kiss

"Ok,"


End file.
